It’s a Quiz! Is This a Real Vintage Diamond Ring?

Obviously if you are going to invest your hard earned dollars on a real vintage diamond ring, you want to be sure it is indeed real. There are stones such as cubic zirconias and quartz that so closely resemble diamonds, it would be easy to mistake one for the other.

To certain your find is genuine; you would take your ring to a qualified gemologist and have it authenticated. But in days gone by, many jewelers relied on other tests to see if a diamond was real. Here are a few of the tests that were used before modern methods were adopted.

Test 1
Take a piece of white paper and draw a pencil line across it. Now place the diamond on top of the piece of paper. If it is a real diamond, the line will not show through. Fake stones will allow you to see the line.

Test2
Place the stone on a piece of white paper. Hold a small flashlight under the paper and shine it up through the stone. If it is a real diamond, the pen will show up the outline of the stone but the centre will stay dark. With any other stone the light will outline the stone and shine through the middle as well.

Test 3
This test is called the breath test. Hold the stone to your mouth and breathe on it. If the stone fogs up, it is most likely not a diamond. A diamond will remain clear under this test.

While these tests sound like fun, and they may be quite accurate, you certainly wouldn’t base your decision to buy a piece of jewelry on them, especially not when you’re talking about investing in a real vintage diamond ring.